Springfield Updates
All right, things have been a little crazy the last few months, so there’s a lot to cover but also, not a lot. Read on and you’ll see what I mean. Things in Springfield are generally indicative of issues that will reach into the surrounding areas, so even if you’re not in Springfield I hope the insight into what’s going on here will help you be prepared in case things come your way.
.02 Click Tardiness Policy
Carriers have been getting issued discipline for being .02 clicks late with management citing tardiness. Yeah, two-hundredths of an hour is apparently worth discipline to someone, so we’re having to deal with it. The ELM Handbook 432.46 explains a 5-minute leeway for “congestion at time clocks or other conditions can sometimes cause clock time to vary slightly from the established work schedule.” Management has stated the rule is .02 clicks, and the Union has requested this rule/policy, but it has not been provided.
The Union grieved this new policy because there is already an established contractually supported policy. No resolution was agreed to locally at the informal or formal A levels, so it was sent to the Step B team for resolution.
Just make every effort to be on time to avoid this issue, but if you’re late from traffic or something else beyond your control just document it. Put it in writing, give it to management and get a copy. Is that a silver bullet to protect you? Not really, management’s position is be on-time to the hundredth, so even if you have legitimate reasons beyond your control we’ll still likely have to grieve discipline, but documentation never hurts your case.
Improper Mandates
Every week, and nearly every day, carriers are improperly mandated off-assignment, or required to carry their OT when auxiliary assistance is available if they’re on the Non-ODL list. This is ongoing, repetitive, and extremely tiresome for the Union at all levels, and is widespread. This is an easy win for us, but we get no compliance with resolutions here in Springfield.
Springfield saw a significant win from an award back in 2020, but the issues have been ongoing. Since then we have seen similar awards at the Step B level, but nothing that has stopped the violations. The question has been, “How do we get compliance?”
The Union’s answer is an escalated award. Management ignores the “cease and desist violations of Article 8.5.G” part and is ready and willing to pay the remedy from 2020 because it’s not that strong of an incentive to uphold the National Agreement. The Union is seeking a remedy that management is not so ready to pay because if they don’t want to pay the remedy, maybe the violations will stop. Maybe. It’s frustrating that management believes the contract is optional, and it’s almost cruel the very slow and tedious grievance resolution process the only recourse we have. But, this is why things are going slowly: the Union is seeking a remedy management is not ready to pay because we want the violations to stop, and it’s likely going to take a LOT of resolutions to get something final. I know, I’m working the grievances and I hear you, it sucks to have to wait on this. We’re working as hard as we can with a skeleton crew of stewards.
Management is pushing hard in opposition of the Union’s requested remedies, so a bunch of these have been escalated to the Step B team as well. As soon as I hear something official I’ll let you know.
Maximum Hours
Many of us are working in excess of our maximum hours daily. For Work Assignment and ODL carriers this maximum is 12 hours, 12.5 with a lunch. For CCA and Non-ODL the maximum is 11.5 hours, 12 with a lunch. December was nuts, hours limits are lifted for Work Assignment and ODL carriers, and things went nuts. We’re still trickling off that rush for some reason, and we’re still seeing lots of maximum hours violations.
This issue goes hand-in-hand with the Improper Mandates issue because they both come from Article 8.5.G of the National Agreement. The Union wants these violations to stop, so similarly we’re seeking an escalated remedy as a deterrent from future violations and incentive for future compliance. Because we cannot agree to remedies that will make the issue stop, a bunch of these have been sent to the Step B team for resolution.
Improper Projections Use
This is covered in detail in a previous post of the how’s and why's, and it’s ramping up like crazy around here. Not only here though, it’s Nation-wide. This shows an organized and willful violation of the National Agreement at the headquarters level of the Service.
The Union has grieved this and received favorable awards in 2023, but management in Springfield has directly told the Union there will be no compliance with the awards. Instead, their position has been that there is no violation, and that “the Union is attempting to harass and intimidate management for just doing their job.” That was part of their official position to the Step B team last year, and continues to be their position despite previous resolutions.
Management will not acknowledge any violations, and I would believe it’s because it’s part of USPS’s architecture at the highest levels so they don’t want to comply with local awards. Unfortunately for management’s position, this has already been ruled on at the national level several times (as you can read in the projections post here) in addition to the local levels.
The Union is seeking stronger remedies while management refuses any violations whatsoever, so a bunch of these have recently been sent to the Step B team for resolution.
Off the Clock Grievance Handling
Your Union stewards are at their lowest numbers in the branch in a bit of time, and the grievance volume is the highest it’s ever been; we are drowning in this stuff. Your stewards are entitled to time on the clock to handle grievances, but the amount of grievances we have far exceeds the amount of time we are given on the clock. As a result, we are being forced to work off the clock to maintain tight timeliness deadlines. We’re missing family time, friends, hobbies, everything seems to be on hold. The Union grieved this a lot last year, won clearly, but we’re still not getting compliance. Personally, I’ve clocked over 130 hours from January through February to work for our membership and maintain timeliness. Trust me when I say this is brutal, and we need help.
Management contends that all the stewards in Springfield are in the same office and they can’t accommodate the time we need. Furthermore they’re stating that the Union “needs to get staffed” in other offices. The Union’s position on that is we’d love more help, but no one will step into the steward role if they know the sacrifices everyone expects of them. Presently, we are fighting for our rights to time on the clock so when other people decide to become stewards that their fight won’t be as hard. Also, we have repetitive grievances that should be resolved, and shouldn’t be violated anymore, so management is generating the excessive steward time needed through their willful violations of the National Agreement.
Again, the Union is asking for a larger remedy than management is willing to give, so these grievances have been sent to the Step B team, and continue to be filed, even tonight after I write this up. I genuinely hope that the observation of these rights from management will make the prospect of being a steward a more viable choice because right now it’s a very hard sell.
What is Step B?
This is a level of the grievance procedure also called the Dispute Resolution Team. This is a very knowledgeable pair of contract specialists who review case files and work together for a resolution based on the case file of a grievance. Their whole job is to sit in a room and debate with each other all day every day. How does it get to them?
When a grievance occurs your local stewards work it and build a case file, which can be very simple 10 page file or some beefier ones (like the ones we have presently) ranging in the 250-300 page file. We meet at the lowest level, Informal A, to present our case and try to resolve things there. If there is no resolution it goes to the Formal A level, where the case is completely developed and a resolution is pitched from both sides, trying to find a middle ground. If Formal A can’t agree then it leaves our hands and is appealed to Step B in Kansas City MO, which is why it’s so important to get as many statements as we can: to share as much local knowledge as we can. Step B works through these things and attempts to resolve it. They might send it back to the Formal A to shore up some debate points or procedural things, which can slow resolutions a bit. If they can’t resolve the grievance together based on the file and requested remedy by the Union they may send it to Arbitration. At Arbitration an Arbitrator hears the case like a courtroom setting, reviews the file, then makes a decision.
Our Step B team is absolutely swarmed with files. This is part of the reason we’re not seeing resolutions.
That’s a wrap!
Wow, lots going on, but it’s mostly repetitive grievances. Our already won cases make it easier for us to win these, but it’s still not making the violations stop. We’re working on it with thorough files, advanced training, and requesting escalated remedies. It can be demoralizing, even for the most stalwart of Union representatives, but we’re working on the hope that our rights will win in the end. Anyone familiar with the labor movement knows how contentious and slow it can be, and if you’re not familiar with it, I highly suggest you get some familiarity to rally to the Union’s purpose: you and your rights.
Thanks for reading. I’m sure there will be more to come soon, so stay tuned.